


Dancing With Our Hands Tied

by onebigroughdraft



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Angst, F/F, Family Feels, Fluff, Found Family, Romance, superfriends - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-30
Updated: 2018-06-04
Packaged: 2019-05-16 01:11:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 16,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14801486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onebigroughdraft/pseuds/onebigroughdraft
Summary: Kara is just trying to figure out if she can truly have it all. Lena is just looking for a place where she can finally, truly belong. As threats continue to loom, the Super and the Luthor grow closer together, learning that while the past can't be forgotten, it doesn't have to dictate the future.orKara, Lena, and the true meaning of El mayarah.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> AU from post 2x11. It'll follow the storylines, but the details within will be changed. It's a supercorp fic, y'all.

_I’m not afraid, father._

Kara woke with a gasp, the dream—no, not a dream, a _memory_ —of the last time she saw her parents, the last time she saw her home world, forcing her awake.

She sighed, closing her eyes tightly, as if she was trying to will the memory away from her mind—at least for a little while.

It was her Earth birthday though, so it was probably inevitable that the final moments she had spent with her parents would wander into her mind.

Kara sat up, realizing she had fallen asleep on the couch after coming home from the DEO. The white martian attack had taken a toll on her—both physically from the fight, and emotionally from the “talk” she had with the white martian posing as her sister only to realize it wasn’t actually Alex, and _that_ situation was still heavily on her mind.

It’s not that she wasn’t happy for Alex.

She was. Absolutely, she was.

Alex is the best person Kara knows, and her sister has given up so much for Kara—to protect her, to shield her—that she didn’t have time to live her own life. Kara certainly couldn’t begrudge her sister for being happy.

Still.

Spending her Earth birthday alone for the first time since she arrived on this planet was a hard pill to swallow.

(Maybe it wasn’t so much that she was _alone_ , but that it was the first time _Alex_ hadn’t been with her, and Alex is her rock, her strength, her courage—her sister makes her brave.)

And since she currently wasn’t exactly on speaking terms with Winn and James (and that was a whole other problem she really couldn’t deal with—not today of all days, and probably not for a few days after this because every time she thinks about the lying, the keeping secrets, she gets angry), and the whole situation with Mon-El and the unrequited feelings things that she had somehow missed meant she was also avoiding him, and Alex was with Maggie—well, Kara had never felt so isolated before.

Alone.

Not since the first time she had crash landed on this planet and found out her cousin—little Kal-El that she was tasked with protecting—was grown up and in no need of her anymore.

And that she was truly the last daughter of Krypton.

While it was true that Kal was of her blood—he was not of her _people_ —not really.

(His Kryptonese always had a slight accent—it didn’t roll as smoothly off his tongue as it would have had he learned from Kara, she thinks sometimes. And the traditions and values were things he had to learn from a robot, not from family—but she can’t be mad at him for what he couldn’t control, even if it felt like he had cast her aside the moment he had landed. But he’s her baby cousin even though he was technically older, and the feeling of abandonment she sometimes felt towards him was far outweighed by the amount of love she had for him.)

_I’m not afraid, father._

What she had told Alex— _fake_ Alex—earlier had been true; Kara hadn’t known that moment she was saying goodbye to her parents was goodbye forever, not really.

The feeling of loneliness was mixed in with a bunch of other emotions that always came when she thought of that fateful day—when she said goodbye to everything she had ever known and all the people she had loved. Anger, sadness, confusion—and most days, she could tamp those emotions down because she loved her life on earth, with Alex and Eliza and her friends. She loved that she was able to help people—she had been sent to protect Kal, but he didn’t need her and so she jumped at the chance to protect others when she finally couldn’t hide who she was anymore.

It had been too long since she was able to just be Kara Zor-El with anyone, though.

And it was exhausting.

And on nights like this—when she was feeling especially alone—it was hard not to drown in the sorrow that came with thinking of Krypton, and the family that had perished along with her home planet.

_I’m not afraid, father._

The buzzing of her phone interrupted Kara’s thoughts, and she reached out to pick it up from her coffee table. The name that popped up on her screen made her smile, despite her melancholy mood.

 **Lena Luthor** : _I wouldn’t really count the lettuce that comes on a cheeseburger as the same thing as eating a salad, Kara. It certainly isn’t enough to fulfill your required intake of vegatables._

Kara laughed at her friend’s reply to something Kara had sent her during her lunch, when Kara had argued that she eats plenty of vegetables on a daily basis.

Lena and Kara had been talking pretty much every day since the whole Medusa virus incident—Kara had gone to see Lena after she had gotten back from her small trip to Earth-1, knowing that the CEO would most likely be feeling alone after Lillian had been arrested.

She had shown up to Lena’s office, lunch from her favorite Chinese restaurant in tow, and had smiled broadly when Lena’s shoulders had minutely sagged in relief at seeing Kara—not something a human would have noticed, but something Kara’s super powered eyes had detected almost immediately.

Lena had been happy to see her.

Relieved even, to have a friend to help her deal with everything happening in her life.

Since then, their friendship had slowly been growing, and Kara felt a kinship to the other girl—Lena knew what it was like to carry the weight of her family’s name on her shoulders, something Kara could identify with.

Not to mention, Lena was nice and caring—so, _so_ caring—and funny and smart and pretty and she smelled nice (and Kara made sure to keep those last two thoughts to herself, because she figured it would just be awkward for both parties involved if Kara accidentally revealed her slight—it was _slight_ —crush on her new friend).

Kara admired Lena—for taking up the Luthor mantle, for attempting to right the wrongs her family had committed even though Kara felt like it wasn’t Lena’s responsibility to do so. For having the guts to stand up to her own mother, and for going through so much and still standing with her head held high, running a billion dollar company at the young age of twenty four.

She thought maybe Lena felt as lonely as Kara did some days, with the weight of the world on her shoulders like that.

Kara sat back against the couch cushions, thinking for a moment before typing out a response. She hit send before she could change her mind.

_Are you busy right now? Do you want to come over and hang out?_

Kara watched as the three dots appeared, indicating that Lena was typing, before disappearing and then reappearing. She smiled as Lena’s response came through.

 **Lena Luthor** : _I’d love to. I just have to sign a few more things and then I’ll head over. Should I bring anything?_

Kara hopped up from the couch, sending a response before going over to her kitchen to make sure she had wine. 

_Just yourself! See you soon ☺_

* *

“Alex?”

Kara blinked, surprised to see her sister enter her apartment. She had been tidying up the living room when there was a knock on the front door, and she had called out to let the person know they could come in, assuming it was Lena.

“Hey,” Alex greeted, giving a slight wave as she shut the front door. “Happy Earth birthday.”

Alex held up a lone cupcake with a candle in it, and Kara smiled slightly at her sister’s offer.

“Alex, you didn’t have to do this,” Kara said, walking towards her sister. “I told you—I’m fine. I’m just sorry you missed the concert. Was Maggie upset?”

“Well, luckily I have a girlfriend who understands when aliens attack my place of work,” Alex said, chuckling.

Kara grinned, nudging her sister softly—always softly, she was so aware of her strength and she never wanted to repeat an incident during their childhood when she would forget her own power and Alex would be injured.

“What?” Alex asked, laughing as she took in her sister’s wide grin.

“Girlfriend,” Kara replied. “You have a girlfriendddd.”

Alex’s smile widened, her heart bursting with affection for her little sister.

“I’m just glad everyone was ok,” Kara said, walking around to her kitchen. She pulled out a couple of forks and a plate. “Those white martians were tough. And that last one, who did that impression of you? Phewww.”

Alex nodded her head, waiting until Kara sat down across from her.

“Listen, about that…” Alex began. “When it was me, did you have a conversation? Because I have these memories…almost like a dream, that we talked? And I’m not really sure if that was real.”

Kara was silent, taking a bite of her cupcake. She didn’t want to make her sister feel bad, but she knew they had to talk about it.

“You remember that?” Kara asked quietly.

She heard Alex let out a sigh, and she kept her eyes down, fearful of the disappointment that might be on her sister’s face.

She could never stand if Alex was disappointed with her.

“Kara,” her sister said softly, and she looked up as Alex placed her hand on top of Kara’s. “I’m not _ever_ going anywhere. I promise.”

Kara felt tears building up in her eyes, and she willed them to go away. The feeling of loneliness, coupled with her memories of her last day on Krypton with her parents she had earlier that night surrounded her.

“Just because I’m with Maggie doesn’t mean that I am not with you,” Alex continued. “Always.”

Kara reached up to wipe her eyes, before looking up at her sister. Alex had a soft smile on her face, and she squeezed Kara’s hand.

“I know,” Kara said quietly. “I just…I felt like you were pulling away.”

“I’m not,” Alex replied automatically. “Ever. You’re my entire world, Kara. You know that.”

Kara let out a watery laugh, turning her hand palm up and lacing her fingers with her sister’s.

“I think that’s part of the problem, Alex,” she teased. “You’re so obsessed with me.”

Alex let out a laugh too, reaching over with her other arm and lightly punching Kara in the shoulder.

“But seriously Alex,” Kara said. “I—it’s just an adjustment period. It’s been just you and me for so long, you know? I guess I felt…threatened, by Maggie. But I’m working on it. I will work on it. Because you deserve happiness.”

She locked eyes with her sister, seeing Alex’s own eyes shining.

“You deserve everything good, because _you_ are everything good,” Kara continued. “When I lost my…” she cut off, clearing her throat as she felt Alex give her hand another squeeze. “When I lost my world, and landed here, I didn’t think I would ever feel at home again. But you made me feel safe, and not alone, and it’s been…hard for me, to accept that you’re making someone else feel like that too. But Alex, I’m working on it, I promise.”

Alex grinned, standing up and walking around the kitchen island until she had wrapped her sister up in her arms.

“I love you Kara,” Alex said. “You’re my best friend.”

“Love you too,” Kara replied, burying her face in her sister’s shoulder. It always felt like nothing could ever hurt Kara when she was in Alex’s arms—her sister was her safe place.

Alex released her, and Kara bumped her sister again.

“Now that we’ve cleared that up, go hang with Maggie,” Kara said.

“I…Kara, are you sure? It’s Earth birthday,” Alex replied reluctantly.

“Yes, Alex,” Kara said. “I promise, it’s fine. Besides, I sort of…have company coming over.”

Alex raised an eyebrow, before a smirk came onto her face. “Oooh, of the romantic kind?” she asked. “Mon-El?”

Kara scrunched up her nose, scowling when her sister tapped the crinkle between her eyebrows. She swatted her sister’s hand away as Alex let out a laugh.

“Okay, not Mon-El,” Alex said, holding her hands up. “Then who—”

A knock on Kara’s front door cut off Alex’s sentence, and the sisters looked at each other before Alex raced to the front door.

“Hey, no super speed!” Alex scowled as Kara reached the door before Alex could even turn the corner of the kitchen island.

Kara stuck her tongue out at her sister in response.

“Real mature, Kara,” Alex muttered. She crossed her arms, patented Alex Danvers glare on her face as she stared her sister down. “Now open the door so I can see who it is.”

Kara rolled her eyes, but was suddenly nervous as she turned to face the door.

She hadn’t really told Alex about her budding friendship with Lena—mostly because she wasn’t sure how her sister would respond.

After all, there was already a Super and a Luthor who had a close friendship before secrets and lies and betrayals turned into the closest time Kal-El had ever come to death.

(Kara had been inconsolable for weeks as she fretted over her baby cousin after the knockout fight he had with Lex Luthor.)

But she couldn’t very well leave Lena outside of her apartment before she flew her sister back to her own apartment.

Or could she…?

“Kara, the door?” Alex asked.

Sighing, Kara swung open the door as a smile grew on her face as she took in the girl who was rapidly becoming one of her closest friends.

“Lena! Hi!” Kara greeted. She pulled Lena close, wrapping her arms around the other girl.

She could hear Lena’s heart start to beat more rapidly, and she quickly released her, not wanting to make Lena uncomfortable.

(Kara had to remember that Lena wasn’t always comfortable with touch—and it made Kara sad to think about why that was, but she was determined to pay attention to Lena closely to make sure she didn’t cross any lines Lena wasn’t comfortable with.) 

“Hello,” Lena responded, a soft smile on her face. She held up a bag she had in one hand. “I brought donuts.”

“You’re my favorite,” Kara instantly replied, mouth watering at the thought of donuts.

Lena laughed, reaching out and placing a hand on Kara’s arm.

Kara felt her heart do a weird fluttery thing, and she let out a nervous giggle, reaching up and fiddling with her glasses out of habit.

“Kara?”

Kara turned around quickly, feeling like if she could blush she definitely would be.

Not that there was anything for her to be embarrassed about.

Because there wasn’t.

There was no way Alex could tell that Kara felt butterflies in her stomach when Lena’s hand was on her arm.

(Even if Alex’s smirk maybe said otherwise—and sometimes, Kara hated how easily her sister could read her. Well, not really. Her sister was the best and she was so happy that they had that talk.)

“Aren’t you going to invite Lena in?” Alex asked.

Kara scowled at Alex again before turning back to Lena, who was still standing in the doorway.

“Oh gosh, I’m so sorry Lena!” Kara said. She took the bag from Lena before stepping aside. “Come in, please.”

Lena grinned, stepping inside. “It’s quite alright, darling,” she said.

Kara thanked Rao once more that she couldn’t blush when she felt her heart do that weird flutter thing at Lena calling her darling.

“Hello Agent Danvers,” Lena greeted, and Kara noticed Lena took a small step closer towards her. “It’s nice to see you again.”

“Miss Luthor,” Alex replied, raising an eyebrow.

“Alex was just leaving,” Kara blurted out, reaching up and fiddling with her glasses as Lena and Alex both looked at her.

“Don’t leave on my account, please,” Lena said.

Alex smirked, nodding her head. “No, it’s ok,” she said. “I really was leaving. My girlfriend is waiting for me at my place with pizza and beer anyways.”

Alex walked over to the door, nodding her head at Lena before turning towards Kara and giving her another smile—this time a softer one as she hugged her little sister.

“Happy Earth birthday, Kar,” Alex whispered. “Love you.”

“I love you too,” Kara replied.

She felt Alex tighten her arms around her once more, before she opened the door and waved as Alex left.

She closed the door, grinning at Lena who was still standing next to the kitchen island.

“Hi,” Kara repeated.

Lena smiled again, her green eyes shining. 

“Hello.”

* *

Lena sighed, rubbing her temples. She could feel the beginnings of a headache starting to form as she signed yet another form.

She put her pen down, standing up and stretching. She turned towards the window, looking out at National City. The city lights stretched for miles, and it was a pretty site—one she didn’t ever tire of no matter how much she looked out her window.

The city was more than just pretty—it represented a fresh start for her.

Away from the Metropolis, where the memory of Lex—her older brother, her best friend, the only person who had actually treated her like family—haunted her at every turn.

Lex, who had turned mad until it consumed him and made the name Luthor synonymous with evil.

Lex, who she _still_ missed, and then felt guilty for missing him because to the rest of the world he was a monster, not her best friend—her kind, caring, older brother.

But he wasn’t.

Not anymore.

(And she _still_ can’t believe her brother—the one who played chess with her for hours, who helped her with her homework, who would sneak her cookies after dinner—had actually sent someone to _kill_ her.)

Her phone pinged with a notification, and she sighed, turning back around and searching her desk until she spotted it. She grabbed it, opening the email that had more forms attached for her to sign. She sighed again, sitting back down in her desk chair. She noticed she had one unread text message from earlier in the day, and she smiled when she saw who it was from.

 **Kara Danvers** : _Umm, excuse you but I had a vegetable just earlier today. There was at least TWO pieces of lettuce on my cheeseburger during lunch. So ha! Did that go the way you thought it would?_

Lena chuckled, smile growing on her face as read the message.

Kara Danvers.

The sunny, bright reporter she had met a few weeks ago. The pretty blonde girl who had walked into her office next to Clark Kent, who heard her when Lena had said she was just looking for a fresh start.

Lena had felt an instant attraction to the cute girl who constantly fiddled with her glasses, but she never imagined the reporter would rapidly become one of her closest friends.

Kara had befriended her without a second thought, never flinching at Lena’s last name, and all that came with it. After Lena had helped the cops arrest her mother, she thought she wouldn’t hear from the other girl again—after all, most people didn’t want to be friends with someone whose mother was intent on mass murder.

(And that didn’t even include her crazy brother who was _actually_ in jail for mass murder.)

But Kara continued to come back, making it clear that she didn’t expect anything from Lena—something Lena wasn’t entirely familiar with. Most people heard the Luthor name and there was an ulterior motive—after all, Lena was a billionaire. And a young one at that. At just twenty-four, she controlled one of the richest and largest companies in the world.

Lena was used to people using her for her connections.

So she was certainly surprised when she found herself trusting a _reporter_ of all people.

But there was just something about Kara Danvers that made Lena want to bring her walls down.

Kara didn’t want to be around Lena for her connections, or her money, or to keep an eye on the only living Luthor not currently in a jail cell.

Kara just wanted to be around Lena because of _Lena_.

(It wasn’t a sensation she was familiar with—that someone genuinely liked her, was interested in more than just her family name, that wanted to know _her_.)

And Lena couldn’t help but feel a tiny bit more than friendship towards the bright and bubbly reporter—every time Kara brought Lena lunch, or just dropped by on her way home from work to say hi, or texted her random things throughout the day—Lena felt her shoulders relax and her heart flutter when it came to the other girl.

Lena leaned back in her seat, typing out a response. She sent it before opening her laptop again, going through the forms that Jess had just sent her. She was just signing another form when her phone buzzed again. She smiled when she saw Kara had responded.

**Kara Danvers** : _Are you busy right now? Do you want to come over and hang out?_

Lena froze, reading the message again. She bit her bottom lip, a nervous habit she had been trying to break since she was in boarding school. She thought about Kara, and her smile and laugh and how she always made Lena feel better by just being in presence, before deciding to be brave and typing out her response.

_I’d love to. I just have to sign a few more things and then I’ll head over. Should I bring anything?_

Lena let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding as she read Kara’s response.

Lena felt…giddy. 

It wasn’t a feeling she had been familiar with in a long time.

She reread Kara’s response once more before going back to her forms, more determined to finish quickly.

 **Kara Danvers** : _Just yourself! See you soon ☺_

* *

“Can I have three of the ones with sprinkles, three custard filled ones, three glazed and…three blueberry?” Lena asked.

The person behind the counter nodded, gathering Lena’s donuts as Lena took her wallet out. She had decided to stop by and grab something for Kara, despite the other girl’s insistence that Lena didn’t have to bring anything.

She knew of her friend’s love of donuts—well, love of any food really, she was beginning to realize after more and more lunches together—and Lena was sure Kara would never say no to donuts.

“Thank you,” Lena said after she paid, leaving a large tip in the jar that had the teenager behind the counter smiling wide.

“Have a good night!” the worker said as Lena left.

She reached her car, her driver George opening the door for her with a smile.

“Thanks George,” Lena said, sliding into the back seat.

He nodded before closing the door, and Lena looked out the window as he got into the driver’s seat and took off down the street to Kara’s apartment building.

Lena’s nerves started to build all the way to their destination, until she found herself walking down the hall to Kara’s apartment door, butterflies in her stomach.

She took a deep breath before knocking on the door.

It was a few moments before the door swung open and Kara appeared, wearing a sweater that read ‘POWER TO THE GIRLS’ and grey sweatpants. Her outfit made Lena smile—and if that wasn’t enough, the bright grin Kara was directing towards her almost made her weak in the knees.

“Lena! Hi!” Kara said, and Lena barely suppressed a gasp as Kara reached out and pulled her into a hug.

Lena closed her eyes, swallowing hard as she felt Kara’s arms wrap around her. Kara had only hugged her a handful of times, but each time Lena felt a feeling of contentment, like something in her chest was slotting into place as she relished in the warm embrace from a woman who was rapidly becoming her best friend.

 _Friend_ , Lena reminded herself. _Just friends._

“Hello,” Lena replied. She blinked, holding up the bag in her hand. “I brought donuts.”

And then the butterflies were back at Kara’s next words.

“You’re my favorite,” Kara said.

Lena had to laugh, feeling relaxed for the first time all day.

She was so, _so_ thankful that Kara had decided to befriend her that day she walked into Lena’s office.

“Kara?”

Lena startled at the other voice from the apartment, and Kara turned around. Lena saw over Kara’s shoulder a familiar woman with short brown hair, a smirk firmly on her face.

Alex Danvers, Kara’s older sister.

Kara talked about Alex—well, all the time, really. It was clear that Kara looked up to her older sister, and although Lena thought it would be hard to hear Kara talk about her sibling, the way they were best friends (like Lena and Lex used to be), she couldn’t help but feel a bit in awe towards Alex.

Kara and Lena had both talked about their experience of being adopted, and Kara had made it clear that Alex was the most important person in her life.

(Kara was so, _so_ good, and so Lena figured the woman who was Kara’s hero must be equally amazing.)

“Aren’t you going to invite Lena in?” Lena heard Alex ask.

Kara turned quickly back around, an earnest look on her face that Lena found absolutely adorable.

“Oh gosh, I’m so sorry Lena!” Kara blurted. Lena watched as Kara fiddled with her glasses—an action Lena found undeniably cute. Kara took the bag of treats from her before stepping to the side. “Come in, please.”

Lena grinned, and she couldn’t help the next few words that came out of her mouth. “It’s quite alright, darling,” Lena said.

Before she could freak out about the ramifications of calling Kara darling, she turned towards the elder Danvers sister.

“Hello Agent Danvers,” Lena said.

The slight glare on Alex’s face had Lena taking a small step closer towards Kara, feeling drawn to the safe space Kara always seemed to provide for Lena.

“It’s nice to see you again,” she continued.

Alex gave her a nod. “Miss Luthor.”

“Alex was just leaving,” Kara said, and Lena turned to look at her friend. She grinned as Kara fiddled with her glasses again.

So. Freaking. Adorable.

But she also didn’t want Alex to hate her. Lena felt like it was important for Alex to like her ( and she really didn’t want to analyze why that was, not until she was alone, with a glass of wine, and had the proper space to freak out.)

“Don’t leave on my account,” Lena said. “Please.”

And then just as suddenly as the glare on Alex’s face had appeared, it disappeared, being replaced by a smirk.

And then Alex was saying something about meeting her girlfriend, and hugging Kara before she left, leaving Lena and Kara alone.

The butterflies were back, and Lena willed them to go away as Kara turned back around, blue eyes shining and a wide smile on her face.

“Hi,” Kara repeated, nose scrunching up slightly as she smiled at Lena.

Lena couldn’t help but smile back, taking a step closer to Kara. 

“Hello.”


	2. Chapter 2

Kara blamed it on the tea.

The tea with a splash of milk and a spoonful of honey that Lena had made for her after the wine was gone and they were on their second movie—well, more like the second movie was playing but the two of them have been talking since the middle of the first movie.

And then the wine was empty and the donuts were gone, and Lena had offered to make them tea—and Kara was feeling warm and happy and relaxed.

So she blamed the tea that had her feeling comfortable enough to reach out rest her hand on top of Lena’s knee as the other girl spoke, tapping lightly—always, _always_ lightly—continuing her movements as Lena briefly glanced down at Kara’s hand and had simply smiled and took another sip of her tea.

(And it certainly wasn’t because Kara had felt a burning desire to reach out and hold the other girl—and she couldn’t really be blamed for feeling like that when Lena was looking absolutely _beautiful_ in a pair of Kara’s sweatpants and her favorite National City University sweater. Lena had happily changed into the offered clothes in order to make herself more comfortable for their movie night.)

“I’m really glad you invited me over tonight, Kara,” Lena said, once she placed her mug on Kara’s coffee table. “I really needed a relaxing night in.”

Kara grinned, taking a sip of her own tea before speaking.

“I should be thanking you,” she replied. “After the day I’ve had it’s just…it’s really nice to be here with you.”

Lena quirked an eyebrow, and the look on her face made something in Kara’s stomach swoop.

“Rough day?” Lena asked.

Kara sighed, leaning back against the couch and wrapping both hands around her mug. She looked down, reaching up to fiddle with her glasses.

“It’s my Earth—I mean,” Kara stumbled over her words. “Today is…the anniversary of the day I was adopted by the Danvers.”

Lena was silent, and Kara loved that the other girl knew Kara just needed a moment to gather her thoughts.

“And I just…Alex usually celebrates with me,” Kara continued. “But now she has Maggie, and—that’s great! It’s great. And I’m so _happy_ that Alex is happy. And Maggie surprised her with these concert tickets, and I told Alex she should go…but I guess I’ve just been feeling kind of…alone?”

Kara looked up quickly, realizing what she had just revealed to Lena.

“Not that—I invited you because I wanted to see you! And I missed you!” Kara blurted out. “Not because I was lonely—I mean yes, I was a little lonely, but I always want to hang out with you. You weren’t—it wasn’t a last resort thing. I like you a lot! My first choice! Honestly.”

Lena let out a loud laugh, and Kara relaxed her shoulders at the sound. She smiled sheepishly at the other girl.

“Sorry, I have this tendency to ramble and…sorry,” Kara said. She took another sip of her tea in order to prevent herself from saying anything more.

“Kara, darling, I get it,” Lena finally said once her laughter died down. “Even if I _was_ your last resort, I’m glad I was one of your choices at all.”

Kara just knew she had a crinkle between her eyebrows, and she put her hand back on Lena’s knee, making sure Lena could hear what she said next.

“No, Lena, you’re _never_ a last resort,” Kara replied, willing Lena to understand. “I just…we’re such new friends, and you’ve had so much going on with your mother and the trial coming up and…I’ve just been in this really melancholy mood. I didn’t want to bring you down too, but I _really_ wanted to see you.”

Kara felt her heart give a little jump at Lena’s smile. And then again when the other girl hesitantly reached out, before placing her hand on top of Kara’s.

“You can talk to me, Kara,” Lena replied, finally. “I’m here for you. Just like—just like you’ve shown that you’re here for me.”

Something in Kara’s chest warmed at Lena’s words, and she flipped her hand over before she lost her nerve, lacing her fingers with Lena’s. She looked up at Lena and saw the small, pleased smile on the other girl’s face.

“It was…really hard for me, at first,” Kara began. “My parents were gone, and everything I thought I knew…and the Danvers were there and Alex and I didn’t really get along at first. And I felt really, really alone.”

She sighed, thinking of those nights the first few weeks at the Danvers’, longing for her friends, her family, her home—her _mom_. God, she had missed her mom. And Kal-El, who wasn’t the Kal she knew, but it was even worse knowing he was so close to her, but had never felt farther away. 

She knew that whatever she told Lena would only be half-truths though.

She couldn’t talk freely, not with this—not with her secret still between them.

And Kara once again felt the urge to tell Lena her secret—to actually tell this girl who was becoming so, _so_ important to her who she really was.

Not just that she was Supergirl, necessarily.

Or that she wasn’t just Kara Danvers.

Or Kara Zor-El.

But how she was really a combination of all three—the different personalities she put forth all intersected, and Kara was still on her way to finding out exactly who she was.

But still—that topic felt a tad too much, too soon. She knew she wanted to share her secret with Lena, and Kara knew she could find a different time—a better time—to tell Lena something that was potentially life altering.

(Especially since she wasn’t sure of how Lena would react—it’s not that she didn’t _trust_ Lena. The other girl had certainly proven she was trustworthy when she had saved the entirety of the National City alien population. But unsure of Lena’s reaction in the way that maybe it would be too much for her to handle, and Kara’s cousin had been a part of the reason Lena’s brother had turned _crazy_ , and Kara didn’t think it was fair of her to bring up the pain of the past like that, not when Lena was currently suffering through _another_ trial of _another_ family member.)

But Lena was looking at her so earnestly and Kara really wanted to share something _real_ , wanted so desperately to share a piece of herself with Lena.

“I used to climb up on the roof—go out through my window after everyone fell asleep, and lie out there looking up at the stars,” she continued. “I used to just—look up there, knowing my parents were gone but found myself looking for them anyways. And I used to think that maybe if I looked hard enough, my mom would just—appear, or I would feel her presence, or something.”

She closed her eyes, thinking of her mom—her beautiful, wonderful, flawed mother. And all the feelings that came with thinking of her mom—especially after she found out the hard truth that her parents weren’t perfect, were far from perfect really, threatened to overwhelm her.

(But she really didn’t want to cry for a _second_ time tonight, and so she tried her best to will her tears away before speaking again.)

“Sorry, this is so heavy for movie night,” Kara said, letting out a watery chuckle.

“Oh, sweetie,” Lena said softly, and Kara shrugged, pushing her glasses up her face from where they had slid down her nose.

It was silent for a moment before Lena spoke again.

“Sometimes I dream about my birth mom, but I don’t remember much about her except that she had an Irish accent,” Lena said. “I know she must have read to me a lot, because I remember her accent. But that’s about it.”

Kara couldn’t help herself—she put her tea down and immediately scooted closer to Lena, reaching out and wrapping her arms around the other girl. She could feel Lena freeze up, and Kara cursed herself for forgetting about Lena’s boundaries with casual touches such as this in her haste to comfort her friend.

But—oh, okay.

Lena was leaning into Kara, turning her head and Kara could feel slight puffs of breath on her own neck.

She felt Lena’s arms slowly wrap around her waist, and return the embrace. 

Kara sighed at the feeling of Lena’s arms around her, and deciding to take another chance—she leaned back against the couch, using her strength to pull Lena slightly on top of her so the two of them were laying down. Kara was on her back and Lena was laying next to her, halfway on top of Kara, their arms wrapped around one another.

Even without super hearing, Kara knew that Lena’s heart rate was speeding up—or maybe it was just her own, responding to being wrapped up with Lena like this.

“Thank you for sharing that with me,” Kara said softly, unwilling to break the quiet that had settled around them.

“Thank _you_ ,” Lena replied, and Kara could feel Lena’s voice against her shoulder, where Lena was laying her head. “I—it’s really nice to have someone to talk to like this.”

“I didn’t mean for tonight to get so heavy,” Kara confessed, smiling at Lena’s chuckle.

“I don’t mind,” Lena confessed back.

Kara hummed, absentmindedly rubbing circles on Lena’s back with her hand.

She felt—better now, sharing what was on her mind. Lena knew what it felt like to be alone too, maybe more so than Kara did. After all, Kara had the Danvers—she had Alex, who had become Kara’s entire world, helping heal the wounds that losing her old one had left behind.

Lena had no one.

And right there, laying on the couch with Lena in her arms as the two of them just reveled in being in one another’s presence—Kara vowed Lena would never have no one ever again.

Not if she could help it.

* *

_“…characterizing her statements as ‘the angry rants of an estranged daughter’.”_

“Lena.”

The familiar voice cut through Lena’s attention, and she turned away from the television that was playing news coverage of her mother’s trial. The sight of Kara in her office made her smile, despite the vitriol that was being spread about her on national news.

“Kara,” Lena breathed out, closing her eyes as Kara walked towards her and wrapped Lena up in a hug.

The hugging had become more frequent between the two of them since their impromptu movie night on the anniversary of Kara’s adoption. Actually, there was more than just hugging—the casual touches were there too, whether it be a hand on Lena’s arm, or at the small of her back as they walked through a doorway, or an arm around her shoulders as they sat on the couch, ignoring the outside world as they watched TV and relaxed in one another’s company.

There was nothing quite like a Kara Danvers hug, Lena had discovered.

(And she really didn’t want to think of the implications as to _why_ that was—why she felt safe in Kara’s arms. Well, she was Lena’s _friend_ , and she was there for Lena, and that’s all Lena was going to think about right now.)

Kara wrapped Lena up with both arms, and even though she was taller than the reporter when Lena was wearing heels, Kara still managed to make her feel like she was being enfolded into Kara’s embrace. Lena could turn her head and bury her face in Kara’s neck if she wanted to, and sometimes it felt like that was the only safe space amidst the utter chaos that is her life.

All too soon for Lena’s liking, Kara pulled away—but a smile remained on her face as Kara took her hand and led her to the couch in Lena’s office. The two of them sat down, slightly facing each other as Kara held a white paper bag up between them.

“I brought donuts.”

Lena couldn’t help but smile wider at the statement, knowing that for Kara, there was nothing that couldn’t be made at least a little better with donuts.

(She had said as much during their movie night, when she had impressed Lena by scarfing down nine donuts in a record amount of time, and seriously where did all the sugary junk food _go_ —Kara was so freaking in _shape_.)

“Thank you for coming,” Lena said, feeling an overwhelming surge of affection for the girl sitting next to her. “Everyone seems to have an opinion about me these days—ungrateful daughter, crazy Luthor, bitch…” She let out a harsh laugh, shaking her head. She looked down, picking at nonexistent lint on her skirt. “Everyone is calling for a quote, and it’s been…pretty exhausting.”

“Oh Lena,” she heard Kara say. She saw Kara’s hand cover hers, and she looked up to meet sympathetic blue eyes. “Don’t listen to what everyone is saying. Those people who can’t look past their prejudice against Luthor to see that you are your own person…those people are—are— _jerk faces_.”

Lena couldn’t help the bark of laughter that escaped her at Kara’s word choice, and she noted the pleased smile on Kara’s face at the sound.

(And then she felt even more when she realized Kara’s word choice was deliberate, just to make Lena smile.)

“Those people, they’re idiots,” Kara continued. “And they don’t matter. You’re so nice and smart and wonderful and _kind_.” Lena watched, amused, as Kara’s one hand holding the bag of donuts starting to wave around, as if her hand motions were emphasizing her point. The reporter’s other hand came up and fiddled with her glasses.

“Hmm, well you’re saying quite the opposite of the other reporters who have been hounding me for a quote,” Lena teased. “They all keep asking questions as if my Luthor genes makes me inherently evil, destined to turn out like my mother.”

She was startled as Kara reached out, putting her free hand on Lena’s arm, scooting closer. The intensity of Kara’s blue eyes was _almost_ overwhelming (except Lena thought it was probably the prettiest thing she’s ever seen).

“Lena, _no_ ,” Kara said, and the vehement way her friend spoke took Lena aback. “You are too—too _good_ , and too _smart_ , to follow in her footsteps. There’s no way you’re going to end up like her. You saved all those people, and you’re taking L Corp in a positive direction, and you—I—you’re a _hero_ , Lena.”

The familiar words struck a chord with Lena, and she looked closely at her friend, who was no longer fidgeting with her glasses. Kara was meeting Lena’s gaze head on, her face earnest as she implored Lena to listen to her words and take them to heart. The look Kara was giving her was familiar too—one of confidence, one that told Lena she could trust her.

(She could analyze everything later, Lena decided, because right now Kara Danvers was staring at her and her hand was still on Lena’s arm and Lena felt _safe_ and how did Kara Danvers do that?)

“Thank you, Kara,” Lena finally replied, causing Kara to smile. “Your belief in me is—everything, really. I hope I can do it justice.”

That smile made Lena feel warm all over, especially knowing she was the cause of it.

“You will,” Kara said easily. She held the paper bag up and opened it in front of Lena. “Want a donut?”

Lena laughed, but looked down and saw her favorite glazed donut. She pulled it out, and watched as Kara chose one too, before the other girl spoke again.

“So…how was it? Was it awful?” Kara asked, wincing slightly.

Lena sighed, taking a bite of her treat before leaning back against the couch. “It actually felt…good? To testify,” Lena began. “I actually got to say my piece, and finally distance myself from the Luthor name…”

Kara smiled at her through a mouthful of donut, and Lena chuckled slightly before her next sentence pulled a frown from her friend.

“And then I came back here to twelve calls from her lawyers,” Lena continued. “She wants to see me.”

A crinkle appeared between Kara’s eyebrows as she spoke next. “What do you think she wants?”

Lena took another bite of her donut, chewing slowly before speaking again. “Probably to tell me that my outfit in court was horrible and that I’m ungrateful and it’s my fault Lex is in prison and…you know, the usual horrible mother stuff,” she replied. She frowned, looking down at the donut in her hand. “I don’t know, and I don’t care. I just—I just want to be done with her.”

Kara was silent, and Lena loved how her friend already knew that she wasn’t done speaking—that she was giving Lena time and space to gather her thoughts before continuing.

“I just thought I had finally shut the door on being a Luthor,” Lena said quietly. “And now, she’s calling and wants to see me and I just…you don’t think I’m horrible, do you? For not wanting to see her?”

Lena watched as Kara chewed a bite of her treat, mulling over Lena’s words.

“Well…do you think speaking with her would bring you peace of mind?” Kara finally asked. “The chance to tell her how you really feel?”

Lena scoffed, imagining her mother and her having a heart to heart, and airing out all that was between them.

“Even if I did, it wouldn’t make a difference,” Lena answered. “She’s been the same way since the day I met her—cold, calculating, and no love in her heart for me.”

A silence permeated across the office, and when Lena couldn’t stand it anymore she looked up at Kara. The other girl had the same look on her face from their movie night—when Kara had been talking about her family, and how she used to climb up onto the roof and wish that her parents would appear.

That look broke Lena’s heart.

Finally, Kara spoke.

“I’ve spent most of my life wishing I could talk to people that are no longer here,” she said quietly, absentmindedly fiddling with her glasses. Kara looked up at Lena, a sad look in her eyes. “She’s still here.” Kara shrugged, giving Lena a pained smile. “And she’s still your mom.”

“Yeah,” Lena replied, though her voice felt far away as she drifted off into thought.

Her mom _was_ still her mom.

And no matter how hard she wished or prayed, Lillian Luthor would always be her mom—since that day twenty years ago when Lionel had brought a 4-year-old Lena to the Luthor mansion, introducing Lillian and Lex as Lena’s new family.

“I didn’t—I didn’t say that just to convince you to give your mom a chance,” Kara added, sounding slightly hesitant. “I just meant…if there’s anything you want to say to her, you should do it while you have the chance. But if you don’t want to see her, then you shouldn’t.”

Lena nodded, knowing Kara’s intentions were only good. There wasn’t an evil bone in Kara’s body, to be honest.

Which was another reason why Lena couldn’t believe someone as _good_ and _kind_ as Kara would want to be friends with Lena. But then—isn’t that what Kara had been so earnestly trying to convince Lena of since she stepped into her office? 

That Lena was good and kind too.

That maybe Lena had the grace to go see her mom, to say what was on her mind—to be the bigger person?

Kara spoke again, and Lena noted that when Kara was nervous she would fiddle even more with her glasses.

“I could…go with you, if you want?” Kara offered. “Not—not like, to go see your mom with you. I mean, I could—it’s—I could accompany you to the jail and wait outside for you.”

Lena’s heart warmed at the offer—especially because Kara knew exactly the kind of person her mother was, and the relationship between Lillian and Lena.

(The whole world would know, anyways—after the trial was over and her mom was rotting in a prison cell where she _belonged_ , because Lillian had tried to _kill_ , and that fact always made Lena feel sick to her stomach.)

“I think this is something I have to do on my own…” Lena said, wishing that Kara _could_ go with her. But she knew she didn’t want to subject Kara to that—to the darkness and the cold that always came when Lena thought of her mother.

She didn’t want to taint Kara—precious, wonderful Kara with any more darkness than she already had. Especially since Lena knew that Kara wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows—not after their talk the other night.

But she also remembered another detail from that night—that Kara was there for Lena, and she had someone she could rely on to help her deal with the hard stuff.

Lena was still learning that she had someone on her side.

That maybe…she didn’t have to go through the hard stuff alone.

“Could you—maybe you could come over, after?” Lena asked softly. “Or I could come to you. I just think…the trip will be really emotionally taxing, and I think I’ll feel better if I can see you after.”

And then Lena’s heart was doing that fluttery thing again (that was honestly becoming _inconvenient_ at this point, and she’s going to have a stern talking to with her feelings after she gets a moment alone because she needs her feelings to _get it together_ ) when Kara didn’t hesitate to pull Lena close.

“Of _course_ ,” Kara answered. “I’ll be waiting for you with pizza and I’ll even get the vegetable one you like even though olives on pizza are _gross_ and I’ll get some wine and we’ll have a night in and just relax.”

Lena chuckled, and though she couldn’t see it because of the way she was burying her face in Kara’s shoulder, she knew Kara had that cute nose crinkle on her face like she always did whenever some type of vegetable was involved.

(And honestly, vegetables wouldn’t _kill_ Kara to eat every once in awhile—it would actually do quite the opposite, and Lena was sure to make a note to tease Kara more about this later.)

“Thank you, Kara,” Lena murmured.

“Always, Lena,” came Kara’s reply, and if Lena tried to burrow further into Kara’s arms—her warm, safe embrace—well, that was nobody but Lena’s business.

* *

**Lena Luthor** : _I’m back at my place. Come over?_

Kara grinned at the message she had just received, typing out a response. Across the table, Alex cleared her throat obnoxiously.

“Kara!”

Kara looked up, confused look on her face as she took in Alex’s irritated one.

“What?”

“Are you listening to me?” Alex asked exasperatedly.

“Yes, of course!” Kara replied indignantly.

Alex raised her eyebrow, staring Kara down.

Kara tampered down the urge to fidget—even when they were kids, that look from Alex always made Kara crack.

She settled for fiddling with her glasses.

A chuckle broke off the sisters’ stare down.

“Babe, give Little Danvers a break,” Maggie said from where she was sitting next to Alex.

The three of them were sitting in a booth at the bar, drinks in front of them. It was the night Alex had decided to introduce Maggie as her girlfriend to the rest of the group, and Kara was happy that it went smoothly. After some surprised looks (from Winn and James) and the knowing smiles (J’onn) and the (perfectly acceptable, thank you _Alex_ ) squealing (Kara), the night had gone great.

(Except for the fact that Kara couldn’t help the hurt she felt every time she talked to James and Winn—the whole Guardian secret still weighing heavily on Kara’s mind. And the hesitant smile Mon-El had given her when she entered the bar, and Kara mostly felt relieved that he seemed to not be pushing in terms of any romance after she had turned him down, and it filled her with hope that maybe he _was_ changing from his past ways, and maybe they could even be friends again.)

But she was glad Maggie fit in with the group, and she was even warming up to Alex’s girlfriend after Alex had explained exactly why Maggie had turned her down in the first place. Now, it was just the three of them sitting in a booth. James and Winn had bowed out—and Kara just _knew_ they were going to do some vigilante stuff, and J’onn had also called it a night. But she didn’t like to think about that, and so she focused on other stuff—like Alex and Maggie and their new relationship.

(But even though she did like Maggie, Kara felt like she had the right to feel weary okay, because Alex had been _crying_ and she was so _sad_ after Maggie had turned her down the first time and it had unnerved Kara to see her usually unflappable sister so vulnerable.)

Kara liked Maggie though, and Maggie made Alex happy—and that’s what mattered.

But the text message she had just received from one Lena Luthor had put the biggest smile on her face that night so far.

“Seems like it’s someone important with that big goofy grin she’s got on her face,” Maggie continued, smirking.

(And okay, wow—Maggie had almost as good of a smirk as Alex, and it honestly made Kara feel more at ease with the other girl because it reminded her of how Alex looks at her sometimes, and she loves all the sides of Alex.)

Alex hummed, taking a sip of her beer. She smiled when Maggie tucked herself under her arm, and it made Kara smile too, seeing her sister being so freely herself.

“Sure, _someone_ ,” Alex teased her sister. “Could this be the same someone who made a late night donut delivery on Earth birthday?”

“Shut _up_ , Alex,” Kara groaned, hiding her face behind her hand.

Maggie laughed at the sisters’ interaction, and it made Kara smile despite Alex teasing her because Kara was trying her hardest to include Maggie, she really was.

“I’m just saying,” Alex said, holding her hands up. “It seems like that was more than just a friendly thing.”

“You—I—that’s not,” Kara sputtered, crossing her arms and huffing at the identical smirks on Alex and Maggie’s face. “How do I know that _you_ —and furthermore—”

“Oh god, Little Danvers, take a breath,” Maggie said, laughing. “Alex, stop teasing her. She’s got a crush. So who’s the mystery person?” 

“I do _not_ have a crush,” Kara denied immediately. “I—that’s not—Alex!”

She slumped down in the booth as Alex joined Maggie in her laughter.

Kara huffed again as she picked up her bag and slid out of the booth.

“You two are the worst,” Kara said. “And I’m going now.”

“Late night booty call?” Alex asked, prompting her and her girlfriend into another round of laughter.

Kara wanted to be indignant, but it was pretty much impossible with her sister laughing and smiling so freely.

“Don’t leave, we’ll stop,” Maggie said, attempting to reign in her laughter. She gave Kara a smile, and Kara couldn’t help herself—she pulled Maggie into a hug, making sure not to squeeze too tightly.

“I really do have to go,” Kara announced. “I’m meeting a friend. But I’m so glad you came tonight, Maggie.”

Kara could hear Maggie’s heart speed up, and she felt Maggie let out a sound of surprise, before hesitantly returning the hug.

Kara grinned broadly as she released Maggie, and the huge smile on Alex’s face let her know just how much it meant to her sister that Kara and Maggie were getting along so well.

“See you later, Kara,” Alex said, putting her arm around Maggie’s shoulders after her girlfriend settled back in next to her.

“Bye! Love you!” Kara called over her shoulder, before rushing out the door. She looked around to make sure she was alone, before taking off, intent on flying to the best pizza place in National City and getting the veggie combo (and two meat lovers, because _duh_ ) before heading to Lena’s.

* *

Lena sat in her kitchen, a glass of wine on the counter as her thoughts swirled around in her head.

So, the secret was out.

She really is a Luthor.

Everything that Lillian had told her in that jail was—Lena didn’t know what to do with that information.

She felt—hurt, mostly.

Anger. Sadness. Denial.

Hopelessness. She felt that everything she had done up to this point—to prove she wasn’t a Luthor, that she could be so much better, so much _more_ , was now tinged with the bitter thought that she truly could never outrun the Luthor name.

She _was_ the Luthor name, apparently. More so than she ever thought.

The last Luthor standing.

She let out a bitter laugh, taking another sip of her wine.

(It was more like gulps, but at this point she didn’t really care—she deserved this, okay.)

A knock on her apartment door broke through her thoughts.

“Lena! I brought pizza!”

Hearing Kara’s voice put a smile on her face despite her mood, and Lena rushed over to the front door, swinging it open to reveal Kara balancing three boxes of pizza and a bag that was filled with several pints of ice cream and toppings.

Lena couldn’t help but laugh at the site.

Kara truly was the most precious thing in her life.

(And wasn’t _that_ a terrifying thought.)

“Kara! I wasn’t aware we were expecting more than just you and I,” Lena teased, reaching out and relieving Kara of the bag of desserts. She motioned for Kara to follow her in, and she went to put away the ice cream in the freezer.

“Well, I was getting the pizzas and then I decided we should do sundaes too and I wasn’t sure what toppings you liked so I just got a whole bunch and different ice cream flavors too, there’s chocolate and cookie dough, oh and—”

“Kara,” Lena said fondly, cutting off Kara’s ramblings. “Thank you for coming.”

Kara grinned, a soft smile that Lena immediately returned.

“Of course, I said I would come over as soon as you got back,” Kara replied. “Now, first thing’s first.”

Kara walked around the kitchen island and pulled Lena into a hug, and Lena didn’t know she needed this so much until Kara’s arms were around her and she was safely tucked into her friend’s embrace. She had changed into her usual lounging sweatpants and sweater, and had taken her heels off, making Kara slightly taller than her.

It felt really nice, to be held like this.

“I know how hard it must have been to go see her,” Kara said softly, before releasing Lena and reaching up to touch her glasses. “I’m really proud of you for doing that.”

Lena sighed, opening a box of pizza and picking up a slice. “It was…awful,” she finally replied. “And illuminating.”

Kara began to eat as well, taking a bite of her slice of pizza. “Illuminating how?”

The two of them sat comfortably across from each other at Lena’s kitchen island, and Lena got up to pour Kara a glass of wine before responding.

“Here, you’re going to need this,” Lena said, handing over the glass.

Kara simply gave her a questioning look.

“I’m a Luthor,” Lena stated.

Kara took another bite of pizza, confused.

“Lionel is my real father,” Lena continued. “I’m _actually_ a Luthor. By blood.”

And then Kara was choking on her pizza, reaching out and taking a few gulps of the wine Lena had provided her.

“Yeah, that’s pretty much what my reaction was too,” Lena said dryly.

Kara put her glass down, coughing a few times before wiping her mouth with a napkin. Her blue eyes were wide behind her glasses, and Lena watched as Kara’s mouth opened and closed a few times before finally speaking.

“That’s—wow, that’s—I mean…” Kara trailed off.

“Yeah,” Lena agreed, nodding her head.

“How are you…I mean, how are you feeling?” Kara asked softly.

And it was those words that hit Lena the hardest.

Nobody had ever really asked her that, and after the revelation her mother had shared with her earlier that evening, plus Kara’s question and the fact that her friend was _here_ —she was here because Lena asked her to be and didn’t think twice about the fact that Lena was asking her to hang out after Lena had visited her _mom_ in _prison_ —had Lena’s walls crumbling down.

And to her horror, tears started to fill her eyes.

“Oh, Lena.”

The pizza she was holding was removed from her hand and then suddenly she was being ushered to the couch, scooped up in Kara’s arms.

“What do you need?” Kara asked.

And that set Lena off even further, because that’s another thing nobody has ever really asked her before.

“Just—just you, if that’s okay,” she replied quietly, trying to control her tears.

“I’m here, Lena. You’re okay. It’s okay.”

And hearing those words, being held by Kara—Lena was starting to feel like maybe she would be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come say hi at onebigroughdraft.tumblr.com! See ya there!


	3. Chapter 3

Lena was hot.

Like, really, _really_ hot.

Why was it so hot?

She groaned, absentmindedly reaching down with one hand to try and push her sweatpants off.

Instead, she found that she couldn’t move her arm.

She opened her eyes, and realized what had happened.

(And where the heat was coming from.)

Kara was lying half on top of her, with her arms wrapped around Lena’s midsection. Kara’s face was resting against Lena’s chest, and Lena could feel puffs of hot air against her neck from Kara’s breathing.

Normally, this position would cause Lena’s face to turn red and her heart to stutter (because her crush was laying on top of her and dear _god_ Kara’s face was close to Lena’s boobs and her arms were wrapped around Lena, holding her close even in sleep). 

But Lena was just really freaking _hot_.

So Lena huffed, and pulled at the arm resting across her stomach to no avail.

“Kara,” Lena whispered. “Wake up.”

The other girl let out a small snore in response, and any other time Lena would find that really cute but Lena was pretty sure she was a few minutes away from a heat stroke.

“Kara, you’re too hot,” Lena whispered, tapping on Kara’s arm.

“Mmm, _you’re_ hot, Lee.”

Though Kara’s words were mumbled, Lena heard them loud and clear—and she was sure she was blushing by now.

“Kara,” she said louder.

Lena couldn’t see Kara’s eyes, but she knew the other girl had woken up—the other girl’s body was no longer relaxed. In fact, it was tensed up, and Lena was pretty sure Kara had stopped breathing because she couldn’t feel the rise and fall of Kara’s chest against her side.

And then Kara tilted her head up, blue eyes wide, glasses askew on her face.

Lena couldn’t help but laugh at the expression on Kara’s face.

“Lena, I am soooo sorry,” Kara immediately blurted out. “We must have fallen asleep listening to that new album you put on, and oh golly, I’m on _top_ of you—here, let me just—”

Kara scrambled off of Lena, but one of her feet was under Lena’s leg, and instead of sitting up, the other girl flopped off the couch, arms flailing as she landed on the ground.

“Kara! Are you okay?” Lena asked, sitting up.

Kara was laying face down on Lena’s living room carpet, and her muffled response had Lena laughing.

“M’fine,” Kara said. “Just—I live here now, so if you could just throw the blanket over me that’d be great.”

Lena stood as she laughed, and Kara turned over so she was laying on her back. Lena reached down and offered Kara her hand, smiling softly when the other girl took it. She pulled Kara up, but apparently the other girl was lighter than she thought because Kara practically flew up off the ground, startling Lena.

“Whoa, how—” Lena exclaimed, cutting herself off as she instinctively wrapped her arms around Kara’s waist.

And suddenly the two were standing in very close proximity, face-to-face in Lena’s darkened living room.

And Lena’s arms were around Kara’s waist—her hands splayed against Kara’s back.

(Against Kara’s very defined, completely _strong_ back muscles, actually.)

Lena’s heart was suddenly beating faster, and she felt her breath catch in her throat. She could feel Kara’s hands on her own shoulders, soft and warm against Lena’s shirt.

She felt like she was rooted in her spot, unable to move—Lena was entirely too mesmerized by the blue eyes that were staring back at her.

(Kara’s eyes were so, so, blue—and if they were the ocean, Lena would currently be drowning in them, and oh lord that thought was just so damn _cheesy_.)

“Sorry,” Kara whispered, breaking the silence that had descended upon them.

Lena barely remembered to shake her head, still staring at Kara. The other girl’s glasses had fallen off when she flipped off the couch, and now Lena could see her face clearly. 

Her eyes were drawn to a small mark right above Kara’s left eyebrow, something Lena hadn’t noticed before because her eyes were always drawn to Kara’s glasses, and subsequently, her eyes. 

(Lena loved Kara’s glasses—they made the other girl’s blue eyes stand out even more, not to mention they made Kara look almost _unbearably_ cute.)

And then Lena’s hand was moving of it’s own accord, reaching up and gently touching the mark on Kara’s face with her finger, before dropping back down to Kara’s waist.

“What happened here?” Lena asked softly.

Kara closed her eyes as she answered, and Lena watched as a crinkle appeared between the other girl’s eyebrows.

“I fell and hit my head on my aunt’s coffee table,” she answered, just as quietly. “When I was—six, I think? My aunt and I had been playing spies and I tried to jump over the couch. Not my best idea.”

Lena chuckled, pleased to see a small smile make it’s way onto Kara’s face. And then it was gone as Kara opened her eyes.

“I—my aunt is…I miss her,” Kara confessed.

Lena knew that Kara went to live with the Danvers when she was thirteen, and if she had any other living relatives who could take her she never would have gone to the them. If the other girl was talking about how she missed her aunt—well, Lena could take a rather educated guess as to what happened to Kara’s aunt.

“I’m sorry, darling,” Lena said, reaching up and cupping Kara’s cheek with her hand. She felt Kara lean into the touch, and Lena’s breath caught in her throat again, and she found herself leaning closer to Kara, and then—

“My glasses!” Kara suddenly exclaimed, causing Lena to take a step back. The other girl’s hands flew to her face, her eyes scanning the ground. “I—my glasses are—where did—oh golly.”

Kara was suddenly out of Lena’s arms, locating her glasses on the ground next to the couch. She jammed them on her face, nervously pulling at the strings on her sweatpants.

“I—it’s late, I should go,” Kara blurted out. “You—tomorrow is a big day, and I don’t—”

Lena didn’t know where the bravery came from—maybe it was the fact that her mother’s trial was finally ending tomorrow, or that Kara was standing there looking so cute despite her flustered nature, or her sleep-addled brain just thought it was a good idea.

Whatever it was, Lena found herself cutting Kara off with one word.

“Stay.”

Kara gaped at her, and Lena couldn’t help it—she had to laugh at the expression on Kara’s face.

“I—you want me to…stay?”

Lena nodded her head, stepping closer to Kara again and reaching for her hand. She took it softly, smiling when Kara laced their fingers together.

“It’s late, and I…haven’t been sleeping very well since the whole thing with my mother,” Lena explained, looking down at their connected hands. “Tonight is the best I’ve slept in—awhile, really.”

She looked up as Kara took another step closer, so the two were standing face-to-face once more.

“Well, besides almost overheating to death,” Lena teased.

“I—that’s not—I run _hot_ Lena, I can’t help my body temperature,” Kara sputtered out.

Lena simply grinned, pulling Kara away from the couch. She led them out of the living room, down the hall and to the double doors that led to her master bedroom. She opened the door, dropping Kara’s hand as she walked over to her dresser, taking off her watch and her bracelets and placing them on top. She turned to see Kara still standing in the doorway, fiddling with her glasses.

“Kara?”

“I—your bed?”

Lena laughed, nodding her head. “Yes, I thought we’d be more comfortable in a bed. Which side do you prefer?”

Kara hesitated again, before she walked over to the right side, closest to the large glass doors that led to Lena’s bedroom balcony. She waited until Lena slid under the sheets on the left side of the bed before following suit.

Lena sighed as her back hit the bed, sinking into the mattress. She closed her eyes, trying to recapture the deep sleep that had taken over her earlier when her and Kara had been relaxing on the couch, but after a couple of minutes of silence she groaned.

“Lena? Are you okay?” she heard Kara ask softly.

“I was sleeping so well earlier,” Lena huffed out. “And I’m _tired_ but I can’t fall asleep for some reason.”

Kara was silent, and Lena thought maybe the other girl had fallen asleep, before she felt Kara move closer to her.

“I—what if…” Kara trailed off, and Lena turned her head to see Kara was on her side, staring at her.

And then Kara was putting her arm over Lena’s stomach, pulling Lena into her.

“This seems familiar,” Lena said, clearing her throat.

Kara let out a soft laugh, and Lena could feel the other girl’s chest rumble against her arm.

“I thought maybe if I held you then you would know you’re not alone,” Kara explained, nose scrunching up in that adorable way Lena was so fond of. “And then when you fall asleep, you’d know subconsciously that I’m still here.”

Lena sighed, this one out of contentment, as she relaxed in Kara’s embrace.

She thought about why that was—why she felt so content, so safe in Kara’s arms.

Lena was an engineer at heart—yes, she successfully ran L-Corp as the CEO, and she _did_ enjoy the work she was doing. But sometimes she couldn’t help but yearn for the days when she was just another engineer in the R &D department. When Lex was the CEO, and she would spend her days brainstorming with her fellow engineers, building new products and running tests and _creating_.

When she was working solely as an engineer, Lena used to become so focused on whatever she was working on that she would often forget the other things she had going on. A scheduled dinner with Lex, plans with some coworkers, picking up her dry cleaning, a presentation of her new project—Lena would absolutely forget.

So she used to make a lot of lists.

She made lists for everything—when it came to new projects, when she had a lot to do in a day and needed to prioritize, when she had to go to the grocery store.

Laying in Kara’s arms in the dark, Lena decided to make a list.

(In her head, of course, because she couldn’t exactly write a list with Kara right next to her—not when the list was _about_ Kara.)

So, number one: Kara made her feel relaxed.

Kara had this ability to make Lena forget about her worries—at least for a little while. When Lena was with Kara, she felt like the walls she had built up since she had first become a Luthor were starting to come down. She felt like she was discovering the real Lena, the one she had kept hidden through all of the sadness and anger and hopelessness that seemed to hang over her life ever since Lex had descended into madness. 

With Kara, Lena actually felt her age—other 24-year-olds didn’t have to worry about assassination attempts from family members, or brokering contracts with high profile individuals and companies, or being in charge of the livelihood of millions of employees around the world. Lena had to be mindful of all of that and then some, but whenever she was with Kara, Lena could just be herself (or as herself as she was comfortable being, so far).

Number two: Kara was a true friend, something that Lena didn’t have a whole lot of experience with.

After the Medusa incident, Kara had come to Lena three days later and told her that they were friends. Lena had scoffed, not believing the other girl—but Kara was insistent. Even when Lena tried to push the other girl away, Kara just kept coming back—whether it was to bring Lena lunch, or force Lena to leave her office at a reasonable hour and hang out, or give Lena a ‘moviecation’ (as Kara called it, and Lena had rolled her eyes but couldn’t help but smile at Kara’s excitement) and show her all the Disney movies she had missed out on growing up. 

When she was with Kara, she didn’t have to talk about work if she didn’t want to—she could remove herself from that environment, and just _be_. It was something Lena didn’t know she needed until Kara had shown up.

Speaking of work, that brought Lena to number three: Kara was _smart_. Like, can grasp engineering and complex physics and also was inexplicably good at astronomy, smart.

Lena had learned this on accident, when she and Kara had visited her R&D lab after hours so Lena could see how a new project was faring before they went to dinner. Lena had turned around for a few minutes to examine something, and turned back to find Kara solving an equation that was on one of the whiteboards. Lena could barely believe it—the R&D team had been trying for weeks to solve an issue with one of their new projects, and it had frustrated Lena to no end that she couldn’t solve it.

And Kara had done so in about ten minutes.

Kara had turned around when she realized Lena was no longer talking, and had stammered and fidgeted with her glasses when she found Lena gaping at her. And then Kara’s smile grew as Lena started firing off questions at her about the equation, and what had followed was one of the most interesting and intellectually stimulating conversations Lena had ever had. She vowed to get Kara to play chess with her sometime soon, confident that Kara would be a formidable opponent. (And also ask Kara how exactly she got into journalism because her mind was so _clearly_ wired for science and honestly it made Lena admire the reporter that much more.)

So Kara was smart, and that was attractive, but it also wasn’t the only reason Lena felt comfortable around the other girl. Which brought Lena to number four: Kara made Lena _laugh_.

Lena was talking full on, laughing so hard her stomach hurt, laughing. And unattractive snorting laughter because Kara’s jokes were just so _cheesy_ (and seriously who had the capacity to think of so many puns), and soft, delighted laughter because Kara had done something cute and sweet like bring Lena flowers because she noticed the ones in Lena’s office were starting to wilt. And with the laughter came the smiles, and Lena couldn’t remember the last time she laughed and smiled so _much_. 

(And she thought maybe it was that much more important that she was laughing and smiling in the face of her mother’s betrayal and impending trial, and Kara just seemed to bring it out of her in spades.)

There were other reasons, for sure, but Lena’s mind was finally relaxing and she was becoming sleepy once more. At some point Kara had started rubbing small circles against Lena’s hip with her thumb, and she was feeling warm and cozy.

But then she remembered what had woken her up in the first place earlier that night, and she really didn’t feel like being unceremoniously woken up again.

“Kara,” she whispered.

“Hmm,” Kara murmured back.

Lena pulled on Kara’s arm, and this time Kara removed it immediately.

“Sorry, I just thought—your heart was beating regularly and—”

“Kara,” Lena cut in. “Just, here.”

Lena nudged Kara until the other girl rolled onto her other side, back to Lena. Without thinking too much for fear of overanalyzing what she was about to do, Lena put her arm over Kara’s side, spooning her from behind. She felt Kara still for a moment, before relaxing back into Lena.

“Good night, Lena,” she heard Kara say softly.

Lena closed her eyes, smiling as she answered. “Good night, Kara.”

* *

Kara huffed, frustration building in her chest as her friend’s words echoed in her mind.

_“Stay out of it, Kara.”_

_“I know she’s your friend, but Lena is bad news.”_

_“We have to start treating Lena Luthor like a hostile.”_

Kara growled, eyes beginning to glow.

_“She’s my friend. And I believe in her.”_

She let out a scream, punching the block of concrete as hard as she can.

And then another.

And another.

And another until the block was just dust. She breathed heavily, thinking of Lena—alone, in her cell, scared out of her mind. And then alone again when her Corben took her, probably feeling hopeless—and like nobody was coming to save her.

That Kara wasn’t coming to save her.

(Because what could stammering, CatCo reporter Kara Danvers do?)

_“I want her to stay.”_

_“That’s not me! I don’t know where you got that, but it’s not me!”_

_“It’s okay, Kara. It’s okay.”_

Kara couldn’t get Lena’s frightened face out of her mind—of Maggie slapping the handcuffs on her friend and leading the CEO out of L-Corp.

“I’m your friend.”

Kara whirled around, tampering down her heat vision that was threatening to escape due to her anger.

“Which is why I don’t understand why it’s so hard for you to believe me,” James continued, seemingly unperturbed by Kara’s anger. “People don’t remember this Kara, but Clark and Lex Luthor used to be best friends—for years. And Clarke believed in Lex, for the longest time. No matter what people said, no matter the proof he saw with his own eyes.”

James took a step closer, and Kara felt her hands clench at her sides as she tried to rein in her anger.

“Clark was wrong,” James stated. “I don’t see why you don’t trust me—I’ve proved you _can_. Since day one, since you revealed yourself as Supergirl. ” He crossed his arms, and Kara’s eyes traveled to the gauze that was covering James’ fresh wound.

“I’m trying to protect you,” Kara replied, eyes stuck on James’ injured arm.

“I don’t need your protection,” James answered. “I need your trust. You have mine. I don’t understand why it’s so hard for me to earn yours.”

Kara closed her eyes, trying to take in James’ words—but all she could picture was Lena. The other girl was probably scared to death, and feeling hopeless.

Alone.

Lena was alone—and that was something Kara had silently promised herself wouldn’t happen again, not with her around.

And Kara’s anger grew.

She opened her eyes, crossing her arms. James stood there, looking at Kara—and she could see the pleading in her eyes, but also the righteousness on his face—as if there was no way he was wrong.

“I’m _hurt_ James. That’s why I can’t trust you right now. You lied to me,” Kara said, her voice coming out calm despite the anger she could feel swirling around inside her chest. “For _weeks_ , about Guardian. You and Winn _both_. Do you know how that felt? You two were my _best friends_ , and you were keeping this huge secret from me.”

James opened his mouth to respond, but stopped when Kara held her hand up.

“I’m not done,” Kara said, and she knew she practically growled it out by the way James’ eyes widened in response. “As for keeping _my_ secret—that’s _different_ and you know that. I never told you my secret, you already knew. Which, by the way, is a complete invasion of privacy that I’ll be having words about with Kal later.” She ground her teeth together, thinking about James knowing her secret when he was essentially a complete _stranger_ to her. “And yeah, it’s nice that you know—great, even. But I didn’t even get the chance to decide to trust you in the first place, I just had to already. And I don’t regret that you know, but I regret that I didn’t have the _choice_ to decide if I wanted to tell you or not.”

“Kara…” James said softly, and Kara shook her head.

“As for Clark and Lex, I certainly haven’t forgotten what Lex did to him,” Kara continued heatedly. “I could _never_ forget—because I still have nightmares about that day. Kal is my family—the _only_ blood I have left in the whole universe. I was supposed to protect him—that was literally my one job that my parents had given me before my entire world _exploded_ , and I failed. So how could you ever think I would forget _anything_ about that?”

“Kara, I just—”

“No, you said your piece,” Kara said. “And here’s mine: Lena is not Lex, and I am not Clark. You’re my friend James, but so is she. And I believe in my friends until they prove that I shouldn’t.”

She unclenched her fists, suddenly feeling tired.

“I still believe in you, James,” she said softly. “But trust is earned—and Lena has earned that.” She stood up tall, voice firm as she spoke her next words. “You say you don’t need my protection James, and that’s fine. I don’t like it, but the truth is you didn’t trust me enough to tell me your secret, and I never had a choice to entrust you with mine.”

With that, she picked up her bag and walked past James out of the training room. She was determined—she needed to find Lena before Lillian hurt her more than she already had. She stalked down the halls of the DEO, groaning when she was met at the exit by Alex and Maggie, her sister with her hands on her hips and Maggie with her arms crossed.

“I don’t have time for this,” Kara said. “I have to go prove Lena’s innocence.” She couldn’t help her next words—she was still feeling angry from her confrontation with James and hopeless at the thought that Lena was somewhere she couldn’t reach her. “Since it seems like I’m the only one that’s willing to try.”

“Kara,” Alex said, her voice a warning tone.

“I spent the night at her place,” Kara blurted out, turning to Maggie with a pleading look on her face. “That’s who I went to hang out with after the bar yesterday. _I_ convinced her to go see her mom in jail when we were hanging out earlier that day, and she texted me right after she got home. I was with her before _and_ after she went to see Lillian.”

She looked imploringly between Alex and Maggie, hoping one of them would realize that the video _had_ to be fake—that there was absolutely no way Lena would break her mother out of jail.

“Lena and I had been texting all day yesterday, _except_ for when she went to visit her mom,” Kara continued. She pulled her phone out of her pocket, scrolling through the thread between her and Lena before she found the one she was looking for. “Look, here! She sent this a minute before that time stamp on the video. We were trading jokes back and forth! Are you telling me that she sent me this text while opening a secret vault she keeps in her office, that is apparently filled with kryptonite, and then took it to Metallo and afterwards invited me over for pizza and wine?”

Alex and Maggie both leaned closer to look at Kara’s phone, the former snorting in amusement and the latter quirking her eyebrow at the text.

**Lena Luthor** : _If Iron Man and Silver Surfer teamed up, they would be alloys._

“Alex, we—she—we slept together,” Kara said, stepping closer to the other two as she lowered her voice. 

“What the fuck!?”

“Excuse me?!”

“Not like that!” she scowled at Alex and Maggie’s outbursts. She huffed, putting an arm around each of them and speeding them down the hall and around the corner into Alex’s lab, shutting the door.

“Ugh, a little warning next time, Little Danvers,” Maggie groaned, leaning heavily against the lab table.

Alex crossed her arms, entirely used to Kara picking her up and whisking her somewhere with little to no warning.

“So, you _slept_ together?” her sister asked.

“We—I spent the night!” Kara explained. “She said she hasn’t been sleeping well since the whole…Medusa incident, and it helped her sleep when I was there, and we didn’t _sleep_ together, we slept in the same bed. But Alex, I—I know. I know what the evidence looks like. But I _know_ she didn’t do this.”

Alex stared at Kara, and she willed her sister to understand. To see. To _believe_.

“It doesn’t look good for her, Kara,” Alex finally said with a sigh. “We have a lot of work to do.”

Despite the bleakness of the situation, Kara let out a happy yelp, scooping her sister up in a hug and spinning her around. “I knew I could count on you!”

Alex was in her corner. Alex was on her side.

Just like always.

Her and Alex were going to figure this out together, and they would save Lena and take down Lillian.

Alex let out a laugh as Kara spun her once more before letting her down. The sisters turned to Maggie, who had a neutral expression on her face.

Finally, the detective spoke, her shoulders sagging.

“Look, I like Lena, she seems cool and not crazy like her brother so that’s nice—but I have to do my job,” she said. “And the evidence says she did it. I’ll do what I can on my end, but I think it’s up to you guys with the fancy high tech gadgets to prove if the video was faked. Our guys weren’t able to find any evidence of tampering.”

Kara sighed, her anger towards Maggie slowly ebbing away. She knew the detective was just doing her job, and she certainly didn’t want to get Maggie in trouble or prevent her from doing it.

“For the record, I hope she is innocent,” Maggie continued. “For you to have this much belief in her, there must be a decent explanation for either why she did this or how she was—and this is a _big_ was—framed.”

Kara smiled softly, knowing that in her heart of hearts, Lena was innocent.

And Alex was going to help her, and Maggie was hoping she was right.

That was enough—to know that she wasn’t the only one who believed.

Maybe Alex and Maggie didn’t technically believe in Lena—not like Kara did—but they believed in _Kara_ , and that was enough.

She reached out and scooped Maggie into a hug as well, heart swelling when the other girl brought her arms up to embrace Kara.

“Thanks, Maggie,” Kara said.

“No problem, Little Danvers,” Maggie responded. “Now, let me go so we can get to work proving your girlfriend’s innocence.”

“Maggie!”

“Oh my gosh—she’s not my girlfriend!”

Maggie’s laughter rang out in Alex’s empty lab as the two Danvers sisters continued to talk over one another.

* *

Lena felt sick to her stomach.

Of _course_ her mother only broke her out of jail so Lena could open Lex’s vault for her.

A vault that contained—from what Lena could see—horrible weapons.

Weapons of the mass destruction kind.

Her mind raced as her mother said some sort of monologue, and honestly if Lena wasn’t so scared she would roll her eyes.

(Because there was Corben, who she had _shot_ before and his chest was glowing with kryptonite and some guy who keeps calling himself ‘Cyborg Superman’ and he’s strong as _fuck_ and Lena really doesn’t want to be near either of them.)

She looked around at the contents of the vault, feeling like someone punched her in the stomach.

This—all of this—was Lex’s legacy.

A trail of bodies and a bunch of weapons capable of taking down a Super.

Lena thought Lex really was a genius, and it made her sad and sick all over again to think that he could have been using his intelligence to be a force of _good_ , because no matter how right he thought he was, he still murdered thousands of innocent people on his quest to take down Superman.

And Lena always, _always_ , felt guilty when she thought of Lex because her initial thought was always that she missed her brother.

(And she wondered when the day would come when she wouldn’t miss him anymore, when she fully accepted Lex was evil and he wasn’t coming back, and he clearly didn’t care about her anymore—if he ever did at all—and wasn’t _that_ an even more depressing thought to have, that he never actually loved her, that she was never actually his sister.)

A large crash broke through Lena’s thoughts, and she turned on instinct, eyes widening at the site.

“Supergirl! I can’t believe you’re here!” she exclaimed, rushing forward.

Supergirl’s eyes were intense, and Lena almost staggered back at the familiar shade of blue as the superhero locked eyes with Lena.

“Kara Danvers believes in you.”

Lena’s heart felt like it was going to beat out of her chest when she heard those words.

Kara—her sweet, wonderful Kara—had sent Supergirl to save her.

Kara, who cares about Lena.

Kara, who _believes_ in Lena.

And Lena suddenly didn’t feel quite so alone.

“Supergirl, you’re just in time,” Lillian said, and Lena didn’t even get the chance to warn the hero before her mother was throwing one of Lex’s grenades through the air.

Supergirl caught it, but Lena’s relief at the action was short lived when a high-pitched whine emitted from the grenade and Supergirl fell to her knees, hands clutching her ears.

“Well, that was easy,” Lillian stated, and Lena had never wanted to wipe the smug smile off of her mother’s face more than this moment. “Want to try more of these toys?”

“Don’t hurt her!” Lena shouted, rushing forward. She was stopped by Henshaw, who wrapped his robotic arms around Lena and pulled her back. “Leave her alone!”

And then Henshaw was throwing her to the ground, and everything was starting to become blurry. She tried to blink the fuzziness away, vaguely registering that Metallo had Supergirl, and Lena tried to reach out—she tried to help, she did, but the ringing in her head was hurting _so_ much.

She heard nondescript shouting, and then a sudden rush of air. A large boom had Lena opening her eyes, and she could just make out the familiar S shaped crest. She felt strong arms wrapped around her, and she blinked a few times, trying to wipe away the fogginess in her head.

She was flying.

In the air.

In Supergirl’s arms.

She turned her head slightly, meeting a worried pair of familiar blue eyes. Her eyes were drawn to a mark just above Supergirl’s left eyebrow.

And then she realized Supergirl was talking—probably had been talking this whole time. She tried her best to focus, tuning in to what the hero was saying.

“—got you, Lena. Oh Rao, just hang on. I’ve got you. You’re safe. I’m here.”

Lena closed her eyes, knowing the words to be true—she was safe, and she was not alone.

“Kara,” Lena whispered, and she finally succumbed to the darkness.

* *

Kara perked up at the knock on her apartment door, and she rushed over, adjusting her glasses once before opening the door.

Lena was standing there, holding up a copy of CatCo magazine, a familiar smirk gracing the front cover.

The same smirk that was directed at Kara now.

“It’s a good article,” Lena said in lieu of a greeting. “You flatter me.”

Kara laughed, opening the door wider and ushering her friend inside.

“I only wrote the truth,” Kara answered.

“Hmm, we both know you did more than that, but I’ll just say thanks for now,” Lena teased.

Kara grinned, closing the door and walking over to the kitchen, Lena following. The CEO leaned against the counter as Kara opened her cabinets, pulling out two wine glasses. She grabbed a new bottle she had gotten the other day and busied herself with the corkscrew.

“So, my office is overflowing with flowers,” she said nonchalantly, pouring wine into both glasses. She turned around, facing Lena.

“Really?” the other girl asked, feigning nonchalance.

“Yeah,” Kara answered, handing over one of the glasses.

The two stared at each other before Kara broke it, chuckling. “You didn’t have to do that,” she said softly.

“Yeah, I did,” Lena replied. “Supergirl told me that it was you who sent her. I don’t know how to thank you.”

“That’s what friends are for,” Kara immediately responded.

“I’ve never had friends like you before,” Lena admitted quietly. “I’ve never had— _family_ , like you before. No one has ever stood up for me like that.”

Kara’s heart nearly broke at the other girl’s confession, and she made sure to look Lena directly in the eyes when she spoke next.

“Well, now you have someone that will stand up for you. Always.”

A warm feeling filled her chest at Lena’s soft smile. She heard Lena’s heart start to beat faster. “Well, Supergirl may have saved me,” Lena said quietly. “But Kara Danvers, you are my hero.”

Kara looked down, suddenly feeling uncomfortable under the scrutiny of the other girl.

She knew exactly why she was feeling like this, too.

The secret between them weighed heavily on Kara’s mind—and not to mention, her heart. It was becoming harder and harder for Kara to keep such a large part of her life from Lena—and on top of that, Kara felt like it wasn’t fair.

Lena deserved to know.

(Especially because Kara knew that she had more than friends feelings for the other girl—the worry she felt, the anguish and despair when the other girl had been framed and kidnapped—Kara had felt like she was going out of her mind.)

Kara had made a decision—had talked it over with Alex, and had thought of all the different scenarios that could happen as a result.

She was going to tell Lena.

And now seemed like as good a time as any to do it.

“Lena, there’s something I need to tell you,” Kara said, still looking down. She closed her eyes, praying to Rao to give her strength.

(And sending up a prayer that Lena didn’t feel hurt and betrayed and lied to.)

She heard Lena place her glass on the counter and take a step forward. Suddenly, Lena’s fingers were under Kara’s chin, gently tilting her head up.

Blue met green, and Kara couldn’t help but smile at the soft look on Lena’s face.

“You can tell me anything, darling,” Lena said softly.

There was a knowing look in Lena’s eyes that Kara couldn’t identify—but she decided to forge ahead anyways, knowing that whatever she thought could potentially happen between the two of them, Lena needed to have all of the information first.

Kara kept her eyes locked with Lena’s, and slowly brought her hand up to her face. She gripped her glasses lightly, pulling them off and folding them up, sticking them in her pocket.

Lena’s eyes never wavered from Kara’s face.

“Lena, I—”

A flash of blue light cut off her sentence, startling both her and Lena. She instinctively stepped forward and pulled Lena behind her, reaching back and bracketing Lena with both arms.

She gasped as a man suddenly appeared in her living room.

“What the fuck?” she heard Lena squeak out.

“Darling!” the man exclaimed.

Kara took a step back so Lena’s front was flush against her, feeling better when she could feel Lena’s heart beating against her back. She felt Lena grab a hold of one of her arms that was keeping Lena shielded from the man standing a few feet away.

“My name is Mr. Mxyzptlk,” the man continued, ignoring Kara’s question. “And Kara Zor-El, I love you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Questions, comments, or just want to say hi? Drop on by at onebigroughdraft.tumblr.com. See ya there!


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